Please see the following link for current class updates and assignments:

Ms. Dean's assignments page

November 18th-22nd

This week, sixth graders are mostly focusing the development of law in Mesopotamian city-states.  Students will be reading a secondary source, a Jr. Scholastic article about Hammurabi and his code of law, and Hammurabi's Code, a primary source.  Students read about and discussed the difference between a primary and a secondary source in class today.  Students will be starting a project on Hammurabi's Code at the end of the week.

Students will also be building city-states this week!  On Wednesday, students will be working in small groups to build a Mesopotamian city-state.  Students will be using factual information about the typical Mesopotamian city-state to inform their design, and students will be participating in both a self-evaluation and a peer review post-construction.

Homework this week:

For Tuesday- Finish annotating "Laying Down the Law"

For Thursday- Finish annotating "Hammurabi's Code"

For Friday- Finish answering Hammurabi questions

**(Students have had class time to read and annotate both articles before it becoming homework.)

November 12th-15th

This week, students are continuing to work on ancient Mesopotamia.  We are wrapping up a discussion of the writing simulation we did in class last Friday, finish up some work analyzing an article on water, and beginning to build city-states in small groups!  On Friday, we will have a short quiz on Mesopotamia- students should be studying the study guide they received in class all week.

Home work this week:

Study Mesopotamia Study Guide

November 4th-8th

This week, sixth graders are continuing to focus on the early civilization of Mesopotamia.  Students finished short center activities today in class, they will be reading some articles tied to modern concerns over water usage and rights, and at the end of the week students will participate in a simulation that will help them explore why and how writing developed around 5,000 years ago.  Our major themes in our Mesopotamia unit are the rivers (Tigris and Euphrates), writing, the city-state, and the development of written law.

Homework this week:

None- students will be completing their work in class this week.  Some students may have some work to finish at home, but the majority of work should be done at school.

October 21st-25th

This week, sixth graders are wrapping up our unit on culture and geography, and beginning to transition into our first civilization, Mesopotamia.  Students will begin delving into Mesopotamia next week.  This week, they will be doing some reading and writing response work tied to culture, as well as investigate how and why farming is an instrumental step towards the development of civilization.

Last week, students took a short pre-assessment identifying the continents and oceans.  There will be a post-assessment next Tuesday, October 29th.  Students who demonstrated accurate knowledge of all continents and oceans during the pre-assessment will not need to take the post-assessment.  Students will be informed in class if they need to take the post-assessment or not.  Practice work will be distributed to students who need to take the post-assessment, and should be used by students to study for the post-assessment (the practice is not due for a grade).

Homework this week:

Continents/oceans post-assessment will be Tuesday, October 29th

October 15th-18th

I hope you all had a wonderful three day weekend!  This week in class, sixth graders are spending time working on their Artifact Project.  Rough drafts of the project are due on Wednesday.  Students kicked off the project today in class in their school Google account- we are doing the project in Google Presentation.  Final projects will be due on Friday, October 18th.  Most of the project should be done in class, but students will likely need to finish up their work at home for homework.

Homework this week:

Artifact Project rough draft due Wednesday, October 16th
Artifact Project final draft due Friday, October 18th

October 7th-11th

This week, students are starting the week taking a look with current events by taking a look at the present conflicts in Syria and in Egypt.  Students will also spend time plotting catastrophic events using coordinate points, and will learn about a new artifact project at the end of the week.  We will also have a short assessment on the geography themes on Thursday and Friday this week.  Please remember that parent/teacher conferences are being held this Thursday, October 10th.  If you still need to schedule a time, please contact your child's conferencing teacher.  If you are unsure of who the conferencing teacher is, contact your child's advisory teacher or me for clarification.  School on both Thursday and Friday runs from 9 AM to 12 PM, and there is no school on Monday, December 14th in recognition of Columbus Day.

Homework this week:

* Study Geography Themes Notes
* Artifact Project visual rough draft due Tuesday, October 15th
* Artifact Project written rough draft due Wednesday, October 16th